Jingling bells, caroling, lights, and cheer. Just a few things that characterize this holiday season. Or how about these? Waiting for hours in the check out line, fighting to get the "last one," or being ungrateful because the gift under the tree doesn't match the one that was asked for. Just a few more things that have come to define this holiday season.
We currently live in the day and age of the "right now." We want what we want when we want it and we want it now. The young generation feels entitled, deserving of everything they want; and even worse many parents feel obligated to meet this incredulous demand. We live in a day and age where we value things over each other. We spend 10 seconds gathering with our family to take a picture and the next 10 hours posting that picture, looking at everyone else's pictures, and leaving comments. We want the biggest, the best, and the newest and when we get it we isolate ourselves from others so that we can "enjoy it."
It breaks my heart to see what the "holiday season" has come to. I became a family therapist because I am passionate about families. I get energized from seeing families happy, healthy, and whole; but in this season we are more isolated, separated, and divided than ever. Instead of sharing in the joy of the season and enjoying each other's company; we take for granted the blessing that is right there in the house with us. Some of my best childhood memories are from the holiday season. I have two very hardworking parents and when we were younger my dad worked a lot. During Christmas Time my dad always took his vacation from work, while us kids were off from school and my mom was a teacher so she was always on break with us. Christmas time always bought out the best in our family. Time off has us more relaxed, less hectic schedules gave us the opportunity to spend more time together. There were more laughs and jokes and less stress and hostility. The older I got the more I realized that in order to truly enjoy Christmas it's important to stop focusing on the gifts and Remember the time.
Remember that time will come and time will go so it's important to make the best of it. We never know what tomorrow will bring so it's important to value what we have while it's here. Remember the people, the people who are important in our lives, the people who we can't live without. Remember to set aside quality time with these people to build and strengthen the relationships and create long lasting memories. Remember that each season the newest electronic "thing" comes out claiming to be better than the one before and soon the "hottest thing" is long forgotten. But those long lasting memories that I just talked about will live on and on. They can even outlive us if we treat them right! This holiday season let's put the phones to the side, set the tablets down, put up the gaming systems and let's make an effort to connect with our family. Whether it's blood family, friends, or our community we all need to Remember the gift of this Time that we have and use it to value and uplift the relationships we have.
"What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family"~Mother Theresa
Happy Holidays! From my family to yours; peace and blessings!
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